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Australia Paves Way for Abortion Drug

The abortion-inducing drug RU-486 will probably become available in Australia after a vote yesterday in the House of Representatives.

The vote removed the authority to ban the drug from the minister of health, Tony Abbott, who is conservative, Catholic, and opposed to abortion. He had argued against the legislation, saying that abortion was no different from the murder of a pregnant woman's baby.

Prime Minister John Howard of the conservative Liberal Party also opposed the legislation. The Liberals control the House, but so many members crossed the floor to vote with Labor, the Greens and the Democrats that the legislation was approved by a voice vote.

In a debate that was highly emotional and personal, Peter Costello, the country's treasurer, broke with Mr. Howard, voting for the bill after recounting how he had confronted an agonizing decision many years ago over whether to abort his wife's pregnancy, when she was unconscious with a brain tumor.

He had decided to proceed with the pregnancy, he said, and both his wife and the child survived. "The law should allow a choice," he said.